The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has adjourned the fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by human rights activist Omoyele Sowore against the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Jimoh Moshood, and others to November 24, 2025.
Sowore filed the suit after the command commissioner declared him wanted following his participation in protests against building demolitions in the Oworonshoki area.
The activist was accused of attempting to incite unrest, with the police warning that such demonstrations could paralyse major roads and disrupt public peace across the state.
On November 5, Justice Musa Kakaki granted Sowore interim relief, restraining the Commissioner from arresting, harassing, or intimidating him.
During the resumed hearing on Friday, it was gathered that the police had not filed a response, despite the law requiring them to submit their defence within five days. A police lawyer, Cyril Ejiofor, appeared in court to request additional time for the respondents.
The lawyer’s application was opposed by Sowore’s counsel, Tope Temokun, who argued that the police had shown a pattern of disregard for the law by failing to file their defence on time.
Temokun further informed the court that despite its order restraining the commissioner and his men from pursuing Sowore, the command had continued its actions.
Following the report, the court upheld its previous ruling, warning the command to refrain from making any arrest, and adjourned the case to November 24, 2025, for hearing.
After the hearing, Tope Temokun commended the court for standing firm, praising its commitment to upholding the rule of law in the face of defiance by the police.
According to him, “We impressed upon the court that what we seek is not privilege; it is equality under the law. We insist, loudly and fearlessly, that for law enforcement to follow the law, the common man must first be free and the rich man must also be free. That is the only constitutional foundation on which proper law enforcement can operate—not to take away rights granted by law in the name of enforcing the law, even before enforcement, because rights are not charity.
We will continue to insist until every Nigerian knows that no police officer, no commissioner of police, not even any government, has the power to take away the freedom that the Constitution gives by declaring a citizen wanted before they are heard or given the opportunity to be heard.”
